McCain misses most votes of candidates?

From MSNBC.com's Andy MertenThis afternoon, Obama and Clinton will return to Washington, D.C., to make an appearance at their day jobs for the first time in two weeks. They will be voting on a Senate bill that will make it easier for individuals to sue employers over unequal pay -- a politically contentious measure, which has invoked the threat of veto from the White House.

It's no secret that the demands of running for the presidency can sometimes interfere with the daily voting duties of congressional members looking to further their careers. Late last year, Obama caught flak for not voting on a non-binding resolution declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, after he sought to use Clinton's yay-vote to paint her as too hawkish.

As of today, Obama has missed slightly fewer than 40 percent of his Senate votes since the beginning of 2007, while Clinton's absentee rate is just under 30 percent.

But McCain has topped both candidates, missing a staggering 58 percent of his votes during the 110th Congress, according to the Washington Post's congressional votes database.

To put this in perspective, McCain has now missed more votes than Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who suffered a brain hemorrhage in December 2006 and was unable to return to the Senate until fall of last year. McCain has now missed nine votes more than Johnson.

But the McCain campaign maintains that the senator is continuing to serve his constituency by taking his message on the road and voicing it on a national scale.

"The platform that Senator McCain has been afforded in his presidential campaign is a unique and powerful force for the people of Arizona," spokesman Tucker Bounds said. "His mission on the campaign trail in every way affects the people of Arizona, and he takes that very seriously."

It's also worth pointing out, however, that Maj. Leader Harry Reid (NV), a Democrat, sets the agenda. In fact, today he delayed the equal pay vote to later in the day, which gives both Clinton and Obama time to return from campaigning in Indiana.

Still, McCain, who is in Kentucky today, wrapped up his party's nomination a month-and-a-half ago -- after the March 4th primaries.